Yggdrasil

Borrowed from Old Norse Yggdrasill; commonly accepted as being composed Yggr (“terrible”) + drasill (“steed”), where “steed” refers to a hanging tree or possibly from *dʰer- (“to hold, support”).

Yet it is not easy to pluck out the heart of its mystery; and the descriptions of certain ancient representatives of Yggdrasil do not lessen the difficulty.

1863, The London Quarterly Review, volumes 113-114, page 117:

With nostrils and legs akimbo, she towered over him like some human Yggdrasill, blotting out the sun.

1963, Spike Milligan, chapter 1, in Puckoon, page 1:

1996, Carolyne Larrington (editor and translator), The Seeress's Prophecy, The Poetic Edda, page 6,
I know that an ash-tree stands called Yggdrasill,
a high tree, soaked with shining loam;
from there come the dews which fall in the valley,
ever green, it stands over the well of fate.

In Norse mythology, for example, the World Tree, or Yggdrasil, connected the nine existences that straddled the worlds of gods and men with its mighty roots. Yggdrasil was reputedly a gigantic ash tree (and was the central feature of Norse cosmology), around the base of which the serpent Níôhöggr had twisted its body.

2007, Bob Curran, Ian Daniels, Walking with the Green Man: Father of the Forest, Spirit of Nature, page 66:

“Yggdrasil!” Gudbjartur's voice was filled with awe. “It is Yggdrasil, the world-tree!” He looked at Halfdan, his eyes wide. “The Sacred Grove is here in this land!”

2007, J. A. Hunsinger, The Settlers: An Axe of Iron Novel, page 333:

(Norse mythology) An immense ash tree that is central in Norse cosmology, believed to connect the nine worlds.


Pandora

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Πανδώρᾱ (Pandṓrā, “all gifts”).

bor

(Greek mythology) The first woman on earth, who had been given a box by the gods and instructed not to open it, but who disobeyed the instructions out of curiosity, releasing all manner of evils into the world.


Thor's hammer

(Norse mythology, Germanic paganism) Mjöllnir (Mjollnir), the distinctively T-shaped war-hammer of the Norse thunder god Thor, or a representation thereof, now used as a symbol by various pagan religious groups.


world-ash

Ash is a strongly runic tree by implication, the world-ash Yggdrasil being the tree from which Odin hung in order to obatin the runes.

1993, Bernard King, The elements of the Runes, Thorsons Element, →ISBN, page 95:

This eventuality would not be surprising if the world ash was, at the time, a small young tree.

1988, David A. White, The turning wheel: a study of contracts and oaths in Wagner's ring, page 108:

(Norse mythology and Germanic paganism) Yggdrasil.


Ha

(Egyptian mythology) A god of the deserts to the west of Egypt, associated with the underworld (duat) and pictured as a man wearing the symbol for desert hills on his head.


Silvanus

From Latin Silvanus, a Latin cognomen, from silva (“forest”). The name Silas, from the early Christian apostle, was Latinised as Silvanus by Paul.


Argos

(Greek mythology) The dog of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey.

(Greek mythology) Alternative form of Argus (“many-eyed servant of Hera”)


Laetitia

(Roman mythology) The goddess of gaiety.


Redbeard

Redbeard!

1989, Eldred Thorsson, A Book of Troth, Llewellyn Publications, →ISBN, page 146:

The radiant goddess, wise in womans wisdom, foresaw a future as secure as the oak pillars of redbeards hall, and knew true hearts gladness as the sacred vows were made.

1999, Thunder, issue 10, How Sif Got Her Golden Hair (Thorskegga Thorn)

(Norse mythology, sagas and Germanic paganism) The god Thor.


Rhean

en-adj

Rhean (comparative more Rhean, superlative most Rhean)

more Rhean (comparative)
most Rhean (superlative)

(mythology) Of or relating the Titan Rhea in Greek mythology.


Callistoan

(mythology) Of or relating to the nymph Callisto in Greek mythology.


Titanian

As whom the fables name of monstrous size, / Titanian or earth-born, that warred on Jove, […]


Europan

(mythology) Of or relating to the princess Europa in Greek mythology.


Euphrosyne

Translingual: Euphrosyne

From Ancient Greek Εὐφροσύνη (Euphrosúnē).

(Greek mythology) One of the three Charites and the goddess of joy.


Methone

From Latin Methōnē, from Ancient Greek Μεθώνη (Methṓnē). Doublet of Methoni and Modon.

(Greek mythology) One of the Alkyonides.


Eurydice

From Latin Eurydicē, from Ancient Greek Εὐρυδίκη (Eurudíkē).

(Greek mythology) A nymph and the wife of Orpheus.

(Greek mythology) The name of various figures in Greek mythology.


Erebus

From Latin Erebus. Doublet of rajas.
[Alt: Mount Erebus]

(Greek mythology) One of the Greek primordial deities who was the personification of darkness and shadow, brother-husband of Nyx and son of Chaos.

Nay, were he Deul, as he is no man,
Yet in reuenge of faire Zenocrate,
UUhome he detayneth in deſpight of vs,
This arme ſhould ſend him downe to Erebus,
To ſhroud his ſhame in darkneſſe of the night.

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act IIII, scene i:

(Greek mythology) The dark and gloomy cavern between the earth and Hades; the underworld.


Remus

(Roman mythology) The legendary founder of Rome and the twin brother of Romulus.


Romulus

(Roman mythology) The legendary founder of Rome and the twin brother of Remus.


Dioscuri

From Latin Dioscūrī, from Ancient Greek Διόσκουροι (Dióskouroi, “the youths of Zeus”).

der

Or, alas, might not one rather attribute it to Diana in the shape of Hunger? To some twin Dioscuri, OPPRESSION and REVENGE; so often seen in the battles of men?

1837, Thomas Carlyle, chapter III, in The French Revolution: A History […], volume I (The Bastille), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC, book IV (States-General):

Cæsar, either more ambitious or less confident in his services, raised a new and costly row of columns in front of the Capitol. He built a temple to the Dioscuri, and he charmed the populace with a show of gladiators unusually extensive.

1879, James Anthony Froude, chapter XI, in Cæsar: A Sketch, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 108:

(Greek mythology) The twin brothers Castor and Pollux together.


Pelops

From Ancient Greek Πέλοψ (Pélops, “dark face, eye”).

uder

(Greek mythology) A Greek mythological figure, the son of Tantalus, and king of Pisa in the Peloponnesus.


Minos

At length we arrived at the gate of Elysium. Here was a prodigious crowd of spirits waiting for admittance, some of whom were admitted, and some were rejected; for all were strictly examined by the porter, whom I soon discovered to be the celebrated judge Minos.

1749, Henry Fielding, “A Journey from this World to the Next”, in Thomas Roscoe, editor, The Works of Henry Fielding: Complete in One Volume, Henry G. Bohn, published 1851, page 602:

That the Cyclades were subject to Minos, is confirmed by numerous traces; and the general belief of the ancients was, that he founded colonies even in Lemnos and Thrace.

1856, Leonhard Schmitz, Connop Thirlwall, A History of Greece From the Earliest Times to the Destruction of Corinth, 4th edition, Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, page 37:

Whether or not Minos really existed and ruled at Knossos, the ruins on Kephala hill today are known by the name Evans gave them.

2003, Chris Scarre, Rebecca Stefoff, The Palace of Minos at Knossos, Oxford University Press, page 38:

(Greek mythology) The mythological first king of Crete, a son of Zeus by Europa, who imprisoned the Minotaur in a labyrinth and after death was made a judge of the dead in Hades; a putative corresponding historical person.

Dante Alighieri
Gustave Doré
Inferno (Dante)


Muspell

Borrowed from Old Norse Muspell. The ultimate origin is disputed, but one suggestion includes Latin mundus (“world”) + Proto-Germanic *spilþijaną (“to kill, ruin, murder”), thus meaning "destruction of the world." More at Muspilli.
Cognates include Old Saxon mūdspelli, Old High German muspilli. More at spill.

der

At the beginning of time there was Muspell, which was the realm of Fire.

2003, Kim Farnell, Reading the Runes, A Beginner's Guide, Zambezi Publishing, →ISBN, page 21:

Certainly the encounter between the cold of Niflheim and the fires of Muspel suggests the chemical reactions that led to the evolution of the planetary surface and its atmosphere.

2005, Diana Paxson, Taking Up the Runes, Weiser Books, →ISBN, page 323:

(Norse mythology and Germanic paganism) The primordial realm of fire which existed to the south of Ginnungagap.


Tritonian

(Greek mythology) Of or pertaining to the classical Greek god Triton.


Lavinia

Latin Lavinia, of obscure meaning. Lavinium was a town in ancient Latium.

(Roman mythology) The daughter of Latinus and wife of Aeneas.


vegetable lamb

A shortened version of vegetable lamb of Tartary.

(mythology) A legendary plant believed to grow sheep from its branches.


Inanna

As popular with the mythmakers as Enki, or even more so, was his granddaughter Inanna, city goddess or^([sic]) Uruk and one of the most complex figures in the Mesopotamian pantheon.

1996, Cecil Roth, Encyclopaedia Judaica: Ur-Z, Encyclopaedia Judaica, page 1505p:

During the second half of the third and early part of the second millennia B.C.E., the Sumerian goddess Inanna was worshiped in seven cities of southern Mesopotamia (among them Zabala, Agade, and Kish), but principally in her temple Eana at Uruk.

1999, Serinity Young, Encyclopedia of Women and World Religion: A-K, Macmillan, page 466:

Even at this period, Inanna appears in various manifestations, each of which seems to possess a separate cult, temples with cultic functionaries, and the right to receive offerings.

2002, The SSEA Journal, Volume 29, Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities, page 17:

(mythology, Mesopotamian mythology) A Sumerian goddess of sexual love, fertility, and warfare, known by the Akkadians as Ishtar and later identified with Astarte, Aphrodite, and Venus.


tengu

(Japanese mythology, Shinto, mythology) A mythical Japanese creature, typically birdlike and having a long nose.


Chimera

Apulia
Chimera (mythology)
Chimera of Arezzo
Etruscan civilization
Louvre
Mount Chimaera
Strabo

As the mythological beast, a variant case form of chimera, q.v. As an ancient mountain, directly from Latin mons Chimaera (“Mount Chimera”), from Ancient Greek Χίμαιρα (Khímaira), attested in Strabo.

CHIMERA, a fabulous monſter...

1771, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1st ed., Vol. II, p. 184

(Greek mythology) A supposed fire-breathing monster in Lycia with the head of a lion, body of a goat, and tail of a dragon or snake, killed by the hero Bellerophon.

քիմեր

Greek myth: monster killed by Bellerophon


Kore

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek κόρη (kórē, “girl, maiden”).

lbor

(Greek mythology) The birth name of Persephone/Proserpina, the queen of the Underworld/Hades, and goddess of the seasons and of vegetation. She is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter; and the wife of Hades.


Hypnos

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Ὕπνος (Húpnos, literally “Sleep”).

bor

(Greek mythology) The god and personification of sleep. The son of Nyx and Erebus, twin brother of Thanatos, husband of Pasithea, and the father of the Oneiroi. His Roman counterpart is Somnus.


contactee

He believes the contactees (those who claim to have actual contact with beings from outer space) are actually creating a new theology.

1966 May 11, “Harvard Astronomers Claim UFO's Are Based on Illusion and Religion”, in Harvard Crimson:

The “contactees” or “saucerians” surfaced in 1952 in southern California. They presented themselves as selected by superior beings from other planets for a special assignment—save the world.

2001, David A. Clary, Before and After Roswell, page 63:

(ufology, dated) A person who has been contacted by alien beings from outer space.


Nanna

Uncertain, possibly from Proto-Germanic *nanþ- (“brave,daring”), from *ninþaną (“to dare”); or from an Old Norse baby talk word for "mother," as in nanna, nanny.

onomatopoeic

baby talk

(Norse mythology) A goddess, the wife of Balder.


Izanagi

Borrowed from Japanese 伊邪那岐 (いざなぎ, Izanagi).

(Japanese mythology, Shinto) A Japanese creator god; he is Izanami's elder brother and spouse, and the father of Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, Susanoo and Kagutsuchi.


Izanami

Borrowed from Japanese 伊邪那美 (いざなみ, Izanami).

(Japanese mythology, Shinto) A Japanese creator goddess who is also (along with the Shinigami and Enma) a goddess of death and the underworld; she is Izanagi's younger sister and spouse, and the mother of Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, Susanoo and Kagutsuchi.


Amaterasu

/ɑːmətɛɹˈɑːsuː/

Borrowed from Japanese 天照 (Amaterasu), from 天 (ama, “sky, the heavens”) + 照らす (terasu, “to illuminate something”).

(Japanese mythology, Shinto) The Japanese sun goddess, and most important Shinto deity; she is the daughter of Izanagi and Izanami and the sister of Susanoo, Tsukuyomi, Ōyamatsumi, and Kagutsuchi.


Makemake

(mythology) The creator deity in the mythology of Easter Island.


Euamerion

From Ancient Greek Εὐαμερίων (Euameríōn), from εὐ- (eu-) + ἁμἐρα (hamera) + -ίων (-íōn).

af

(Greek mythology) Alternative name for Telesphoros


Mentor

en-proper noun

Mentor (countable and uncountable, plural Mentors)

From Ancient Greek Μέντωρ (Méntōr, “Mentor”).

(Greek mythology) Odysseus's trusted counselor. He was assigned the responsibility of raising Odysseus's son Telemachus while Odysseus was away fighting in Troy.


Sexet

(Egyptian mythology) Egyptian goddess of malevolent fire, sister of Bast, the bringer of ill-fortune


Svartálfar

(Norse mythology) a race of black or dark elves that populate Svartálfaheimr, one of the nine realms


Leander

From Ancient Greek Λέανδρος (Léandros), from λέων (léōn, “lion”) + ἀνήρ (anḗr, “man”).

Leander, he would have lived many a fair year, though Hero had turned nun, if it had not been for a hot midsummer night.

(Greek mythology) The lover of Hero who swam every night across the Hellespont to meet her, and finally was drowned.


Procrustes

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Προκρούστης (Prokroústēs).

bor+

(Greek mythology) A celebrated legendary highwayman of Attica, who tied his victims upon an iron bed, and, as the case required, either stretched or cut off their legs to adapt them to its length.


Megaera

From Ancient Greek Μέγαιρα (Mégaira, “the jealous one”), from μεγαίρω (megaírō, “to grudge, envy”).

bor

(Greek mythology) One of the Furies, Erinyes in Greek mythology, the cause of jealousy and envy, who punishes people who commit crimes, especially marital infidelity.


Stymphalides

From Latin Stymphālides, from Ancient Greek Στυμφαλίδες ὄρνιθες (Stumphalídes órnithes, “birds of Stymphalus”).

der

Στυμφαλίδες ὄρνιθες

(Greek mythology) In Greek mythology, a flock of metallic man-eating birds that haunted Lake Stymphalis in Arkadia. They were slain by Herakles as part of his sixth Labour, who took advantage of their sensitive sense of hearing.


Aeolus

From the Latin Aeolus, from the Ancient Greek Αἴολος (Aíolos, “moving, swift”).

(Greek mythology) The name of a number of characters in Greek mythology, including the founder of the Aeolian race, and a god with power over wind.


Freyr

(Norse mythology) A Vanir god associated with kingship and virility in the North Germanic corpus, in which he rides the shining boar Gullinbursti and wields an antler as a weapon. He is sometimes referred to as Yngvi-Freyr.


werefox

Lycanthropy also was common, in early times at least, and belief in werewolves and werefoxes existed among all tribe.

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 183:

(mythology) A person who transforms into a fox or foxlike form.

weervos

shapeshifter assuming the shape of a fox


valkyrie

Borrowed from Old Norse valkyrja sg (“chooser of the slain”), plural valkyrjur pl, from Proto-Germanic *walakuzjǭ. Cognate to Old English wælcyrġe. First attested in English as a proper noun (Valkyries) in the 1770s; attested as a common noun (valkyries) since the 1880s.

bor

Wagner's “Der Ring des Nibelungen” (1853) famously features valkyries.

(Norse mythology) Any of the female attendants of Odin, figures said to guide fallen warriors from the battlefield to Valhalla.

walkure

any of the female attendants, or handmaidens of Odin


sea monster

(mythology) A large and aggressive creature living in or under the sea that attacks ships.


hippocamp

(Greek mythology) A mythological creature, a cross between a horse and a fish.


Lanka

(mythology, Hinduism) The island city of Ravana in the ancient Indian epic Ramayana.


lampad

(Greek mythology) nymph of the Underworld


Sessrúmnir

(Norse mythology) Freyja's hall in the Fólkvangr, her room for half of the those slain on the battlefield.


patupaiarehe

(mythology) One of a legendary fair-skinned fairy race said to have inhabited Polynesia before the arrival of human beings.


aphroditic

en-adj

aphroditic (comparative more aphroditic, superlative most aphroditic)

more aphroditic (comparative)
most aphroditic (superlative)

(Greek mythology) Of or pertaining to Aphrodite


Vahagn

Borrowed from Armenian Վահագն (Vahagn). Doublet of Verethragna.

(Armenian mythology) Ancient Armenian god of war, fire and courage. A dragonslayer. Lover of Astghik.


shieldmaiden

From shield + maiden. Calque from Old Norse skjaldmær (“shieldmaiden”).

The shield-maiden (skölde-mö) was dedicated to Odin, and forbidden to wed; her love brought calamity.

1845 [1832–1836], Erik Gustaf Geijer, translated by J. H. Turner, The History of the Swedes, London: Whittaker and Co., Ave Maria Lane, translation of Svenska folkets historia (in Swedish), page 33:

The Anglosaxon belief in the Shieldmaidens comes to us indeed in a darkened form, yet we can hardly doubt that it survived.

1849, John Mitchell Kemble, The Saxons in England:

Störkud rushed through the ranks with a drawn sword and killed one after another; he cut down Hjört; whereupon Visma, shieldmaiden, who carried the standard of Harald, met him.

1890, Paul Belloni Du Chaillu, The Viking Age: The Early History, Manners, and Customs of the Ancestors of the English-speaking Nations, volume 2:

There goes a lord who tamed a wild shieldmaiden of the North!

1955, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Return of the King, →ISBN, page 262:

(Norse mythology) A female virgin who had chosen to fight as a warrior in battle.

skjoldmø

Norse female virgin who had chosen to fight in battle


barghest

The etymology of this word is disputed; it is perhaps from Old English burh-ghest (“town-ghost”), or from German Berg-geist (“mountain spirit”) or Bär-geist (“bear-spirit”).

In English folklore, a barghest is a monstrous dog with huge claws and teeth. This creature is said to roam around Yorkshire, and anyone who sees the dog will die soon after. There are barghests reported in Tennessee. On the grounds of Rotherwood Mansion in Kingsport, a monstrous black dog is said to roam, howling mournfully. Locally, he's called "Hound of Hell." Again, anyone who sees this creature is certain to suffer imminent death.

1999, Charles Edwin Price, Mysterious Knoxville: Ghost Stories, Monster Tales, and Bizarre Incidents from the “Gateway to the Smokies”, Johnson City, Tenn.: The Overmountain Press, →ISBN, page 58:

"Folklore often portrays barghests as guardians who lead lost travelers home," I said, not answering his question in the least, or mentioning that more often barghests were considered portents of death.

2012, Kalayna Price, chapter 20, in Grave Memory: An Alex Craft Novel, New York, N.Y.: Roc Books, New American Library, →ISBN:

(mythology, British) A legendary monstrous black dog, said to possess large teeth and claws, and (sometimes) to be capable of changing form.

Yet another possibility is that the headless man is a barghest, sometimes referred to and spelled as 'barguest', 'bahrgeist' or 'boguest'. These are creatures primarily associated with the north of England – Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire and Lancashire. They assume at will the form of a headless man, a headless lady, a white cat, a rabbit, or dog, or a black dog. The barghest is a fiend that is attached to a particular place, more often than not an isolated piece of land, a wooded area, cloughs or wasteland. The barghest is known as a portent of disaster or death for those who see it; it is also said that death may not visit the person who sees the barghest but could kill a family member instead.

2016, Alexander L. Kaufman, “‘And Many Oþer Diuerse Tokens …’: Portents and Wonders in ‘Warkworth’s’ Chronicle”, in Jaclyn Rajsic, Erik Kooper, Dominique Hoche, editors, The Prose Brut and Other Late Medieval Chronicles: Books Have Their Histories. Essays in Honour of Lister M. Matheson, Woodbridge, Suffolk: York Medieval Press in association with The Boydell Press and the Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, →ISBN, page 61:

(mythology, British) Any ghost, wraith, hobgoblin, elf, or spirit.


Elissa

From Ancient Greek Ἔλῐσσᾰ (Élissa); probably from Phoenician 𐤀𐤋𐤀𐤎𐤕 (ʾlʾst /Elishat/), 𐤀𐤋𐤀𐤎 (ʾlʾs /Elisha/).

(Greek mythology) Dido, queen of Carthage.


maenad

From Latin maenas (“bacchant”), from Ancient Greek μαινάς (mainás, “raving, frantic”), from Ancient Greek μαίνομαι (maínomai, “be furious”).

uder

Blanche Stroeve was in the cruel grip of appetite. Perhaps she hated Strickland still, but she hungered for him, and everything that had made up her life till then became of no account. She ceased to be a woman, complex, kind and petulant, considerate and thoughtless; she was a Maenad. She was desire.

1919, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, “chapter 30”, in The Moon and Sixpence, [New York, N.Y.]: Grosset & Dunlap Publishers […], →OCLC:

(Greek mythology) A female follower of Dionysus, associated with intense reveling.


Electra

From Ancient Greek Ἠλέκτρα (Ēléktra), from ἤλεκτρον (ḗlektron, “amber”), related to ἠλέκτωρ (ēléktōr, “shining sun”).

(Greek mythology) Any of several mythical women, including a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, one of the Pleiades, and one of the daughters of Oceanus and Tethys.


dhampir

(mythology, fiction, fantasy) A half-human, half-vampire hybrid.


Jocasta

(Greek mythology) The mother and wife of Oedipus.


barometz

Friedrich Justin Bertuch
Sir Richard Clayton, 1st Baronet

Possibly a corruption of Russian баране́ц (baranéc, “species of club moss (genus Lycopodium)”, from бара́н (barán, “ram (male sheep)”) + -ец (-ec, diminutive suffix)).

refn

From D[emetrius] de La Croix (1791) Richardus Clayton [i.e., Sir Richard Clayton, 1st Baronet], transl., Connubia florum latino carmine demonstrata, Bath, Somerset: Ex. typographia S. Hazard, →OCLC.

From F[riedrich] J[ustin] Bertuch (1806) Bilderbuch für Kinder: enthaltend eine angenehme Sammlung von Thieren, Pflanzen, Blumen, Früchten, Mineralien, Trachten und allerhand andern unterrichtenden Gegenständen aus dem Reiche der Natur, der Künste und Wissenschaften, alle nach den besten Originalen gewählt, gestochen, und mit einer kurzen wissenschaftlichen, und den Verstandes-Kräften eines Kindes angemessenen Erklärung begleitet, Weimar: Im Verlage des Industrie-Comptoirs, →OCLC.

der

Much wonder is made of the Boramez, that ſtrange plant-animall or vegetable Lamb of Tartary, which Wolves delight to feed on, which hath the ſhape of a Lamb, affordeth a bloudy juice upon breaking, and liveth while the plants be conſumed about it; and yet if all this be no more then the ſhape of a Lamb in the flower or ſeed, upon the top of the ſtalk, as we meet with the formes of Bees, Flies and Dogs in ſome others, he hath ſeen nothing that ſhall much wonder at it.

1650, Thomas Browne, “Of Some Others”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 152:

Cradled in ſnow and fann'd by arctic air / Shines, gentle Barometz! thy golden hair; / Rooted in earth each cloven hood deſcends, / And round and round her flexile neck ſhe bends; / Crops the grey coral moſs, and hoary thyme, / Or laps with roſy tongue the melting rime; [...]

1789, [Erasmus Darwin], The Botanic Garden; a Poem, in Two Parts. […], London: J[oseph] Johnson, […], published 1791, →OCLC, part II (The Loves of the Plants; 3rd edition), page 30, lines 283–288:

[...] I say to you what I should say if any little Barometzes should come under my care. It is more on the imaginary side than the matter of fact.

1919 February 15, The Garden: […], volume 83, London: Hudson and Kearns, →OCLC, page 69, column 3:

It seemed to be at least as good a vegetable lamb as Lepas was an unripe vegetable bird, and one version of the story itself is probably explained by it. That is the version in which the barometz grows out of the ground, being attached to its root system by its umbilical cord and capable of feeding only as far as that cord will reach—a perfect counterpart to the Jidra of the Talmud.

1948, Willy Ley, The Lungfish, the Dodo and the Unicorn: An Excursion in Romantic Zoology, 2nd edition, New York, N.Y.: Viking Press, →OCLC, page 82:

One has only to consult [Jorge Luis] Borges's own "Book of Imaginary Beings" to encounter chimeras, phoenixes, basilisks, barometzes (the last a kind of vegetable lamb) and the like.

1987 April 12, Cynthia Ozick, “The Library of Nonexistent Classics”, in The New York Times Book Review, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 2017-11-05, page 12:

However, one night when I was hard at work in one of the powder mills outside the fortress, I was captured along with some others by a band of Tartars and carried off so deep into their territory that I not only saw borametz, the legendary sheep-shaped melon, growing, I ate it.

1999, Johann Jakob Christoffel von Grimmelshausen, “On the Short and Diverting Road by which He Came Home to His Da”, in Mike Mitchell, transl., Simplicissimus, Sawtry, Cambridgeshire: Dedalus Books, published 2010, →ISBN:

(mythology) A purported zoophyte, half-animal and half-plant, said to grow in the form of a sheep.

植物羊

half-animal and half-plant said to grow in the form of a sheep — see also vegetable lamb


Utu

(mythology) A Sumerian deity, the son of the moon god Nanna and the goddess Ningal.


Bel

From Latin Bēlus, from Ancient Greek Βῆλος (Bêlos), ultimately from Akkadian 𒂗 (bēlum).

Babylon is taken, Bel is confounded, Merodach is broken in pieces; her idols are confounded, her images are broken in pieces.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 50:2:

(mythology) A Babylonian deity, corresponding to the Semitic Baal.

(Armenian mythology) An evil giant who ruled Babylon prior to his defeat by the Armenian culture hero Hayk.


squonk

Have you ever seen a squonk's tears? Well, look at mine / The people on the street have all seen better times

1974, Donald Fagen, Walter Becker (lyrics and music), “Any Major Dude Will Tell You”, performed by Steely Dan:

(mythology) A mythical creature, said to inhabit Pennsylvanian forests, where it hides from view for being ashamed of its own appearance, and to dissolve into a pool of tears if captured.


hamingja

(Norse mythology) A female guardian angel in Norse mythology, believed to accompany a person and decide their luck and happiness.


baku

Borrowed from Japanese 獏 (“spirit that feeds on nightmares”).

bor

2005, David Booth, Story Drama, 2nd edition, Pembroke Publishers, page 49,
The creature explained that he was a baku. A baku eats dreams and nightmares. To a baku, a bad dream is delicious!

2008, "Baku", entry in Brenda Rosen, The Mythical Creatures Bible, Octopus Publishing Group, page 113,
A person awakening from a nightmare should call three times saying, "Baku, eat my dreams." Thus summoned, the Baku will turn bad omens into good fortune by devouring evil influences.

Shouting out "Devour my dream, Baku!" is said to bring Baku to a child's side to take away his or her bad dreams. Not only does Baku take the dreams away, but he also leaves good fortune in their place.

2012, Kris Bradley, Mrs. B's Guide to Household Witchery, Weiser Books, page 28:

(Japanese mythology) A type of supernatural being said to devour nightmares.


saturnal

From Latin saturnalis, itself from the Roman god Saturnus + -alis '-al'.

This increased period extends in the trans-Saturnal sphere of Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.

2004, Mantak Chia, Dirk Oellibrandt, Taoist Astral Healing: Chi Kung Healing Practices Using Star and Planet Energies, →ISBN, page 92:

(Roman mythology, astrology) Of or pertaining to the Ancient Roman god Saturn or to the corresponding planetary entity in astrology.


Mimas

From Ancient Greek Μίμᾱς (Mímās), earlier Μίμανς (Mímans).

(Greek mythology) A son of Gaia; one of the Gigantes.


ork

(fantasy, mythology) Alternative spelling of orc.


Golden Age

(mythology) The oldest and best of the Classical Ages of Man, when people lived innocent lives of happiness and prosperity.


leucrota

(mythology) The offspring of a crocotta and a lion, supposed to be able to imitate the sound of a human voice.


Hyacinthus

/ˌhaɪəˈsɪnθəs/

From Latin Hyacinthus, from Ancient Greek Ὑάκινθος (Huákinthos).

(Greek mythology) A Spartan youth loved and accidentally killed by Apollo. The flower hyacinth sprang from his blood.

Հիակինթոս

a Spartan youth loved and accidentally killed by Apollo


Lilith

Hebrew לִילִית (lîlîṯ)

(mythology) A Mesopotamian storm demon, a bearer of disease and death.


Priam

Anglicized version of Latin Priamus, from the Ancient Greek Πρίαμος (Príamos).

(Greek mythology) The king of Troy during the Iliad


Cyrene

From Latin Cyrene, from Ancient Greek Κυρήνη (Kurḗnē), of uncertain origin. Classical sources considered the Thessalian demigod the etymon for the Libyan city. Modern scholars variously derive the name from the Libyan spring Κύρα (Kúra) or, noting the myth attested before the spring or city, consider an existing Proto-Berber name to have been conflated with the Thessalian myths by early Greek colonists.

(Greek mythology) A Thessalian princess and huntress demigod, companion of Artemis and lover of Apollo.


Anahit

(Armenian mythology) Alternative form of Anahita


Hayk

(Armenian mythology) The legendary patriarch and founder of the Armenian nation.


Enyo

(Greek mythology) Goddess of violent war, acting as a counterpart and companion to the war god Ares. Identified with Bellona in Roman mythology.


Cadmus

Via Latin Cadmus, from Ancient Greek Κάδμος (Kádmos).

(Greek mythology) A Phoenician prince, son of king Agenor of Tyre. Was sent by his royal parents to seek and return his sister Europa after being abducted from Phoenicia by Zeus. Credited with founding Greek city of Thebes and inventing Greek alphabet.


Annona

(Roman mythology) A Roman goddess personifying the yearly harvest.


Astghik

(Armenian mythology) Ancient Armenian goddess of sensual love, beauty, and water. Lover of Vahagn. Often identified with Aphrodite and the planet Venus.


stellify

en-verb

stellify (third-person singular simple present stellifies, present participle stellifying, simple past and past participle stellified)

stellifies (present singular third-person)
stellifying (participle present)
stellified (participle past)
stellified (past)

From Middle English stellifien (“to make into a star; glorify, deify”), from Middle French stellifier, from Medieval Latin stellificāre, itself from Latin stella (“star”) + faciō (“make, do”).

inh

In Classical mythology, being stellified was about the greatest posthumous honor for a mortal.

By the 'hissing snake' Spenser presumably means the scorpion sent by Diana that killed Orion. Like Orion it, too, was stellified. But since, as Scorpio, it rises in the east as Orion's sign sets in the west, the two were regarded as being kept forever apart, Orion perpetually avoiding in the heavens his vanquisher on earth.

1983, Douglas Brooks-Davies, The Mercurian Monarch: magical politics from Spenser to Pope, page 31:

(transitive, mythology) To transform from an earthly body into a celestial body; to place in the sky as such

muuttaa tähdeksi

mythology: to transform from an earthly body into a celestial body


jackalope

Most jackalopes are furry and a foot or two tall; many are only heads, mounted on wood plaques; there are some six-footers, covered with fur…

1993, Jane Stern, Michael Stern, Way out west:

(folklore, mythology) A folkloric animal, a supposed cross between a jackrabbit and an antelope, goat, or deer, usually portrayed as a rabbit with antlers.


household deity

en-noun

household deity (plural household deities)

[…] Ganesh (Pillayar in Tamil), here is not associated with militant Hinduism; Pillayar is a lovable household deity here, a free and familiar god who craves no chauvinistic devotion.

1990, V. Geetha with S. V. Rajadurai, “Communal Violence in Madras: A Portent?”, in Economic and Political Weekly, volume 25, number 38, →ISSN, page 2122:

[O]n this day, as throughout the New Year's period, rites of divination for the following year were performed along with rites for the spirits of ancestors and other household deities.

2005, Michael Como, “Silkworms and Consorts in Nara Japan”, in Asian Folklore Studies, volume 64, number 1, page 127:

(mythology, religion) A minor tutelary deity watching over a household, usually conceived as a protective ancestral spirit or genius loci.

huisgod

minor god or goddess who protects a home or family

lar

chiefly Roman contexts, particularly overseeing the family

penates

chiefly Roman contexts, particularly overseeing the house and its storeroom


Dikê

Dolos and Dikê in Sophokles’ Elektra

2001: Leona MacLeod, Dolos and Dikê in Sophokles’ Elektra, volume 219, main title (Brill; →ISBN, 9789004118980)

(historical, Greek mythology) The goddess personifying the principle of justice.


Juno Moneta

From New Latin Juno Moneta, varient of Classical Latin Iūnō Monēta, from Iuno (“Juno”), queen of the Roman gods equated with the Greek Hera, and Moneta, of uncertain etymology. The name has been popularly derived from monēre (“to advise or warn”) since antiquity with reference to various events in Roman legend and history, but modern archeology seems to show the worship of a goddess Moneta elsewhere in Italy prior to her introduction to Rome (cf. evocatio) in 344 BC. The connection to coinage and money derived from her temple's use to house the state mint until a fire around AD 84. Cognate with money and monetary.

(Roman mythology) Synonym of Juno, particularly as a patron of the state mint and Roman coinage.

Iūnō Monēta

Juno as advisor, warner, or patron of minting


cynocephaly

(mythology) The state of a human having the head of a dog.


Calydon

(historical, Greek mythology) The legendary founding king and eponym of the city of Calydon, whose failure to honor the goddess Artemis in a rite resulted in her sending the Calydonian Boar to lay waste to the city.


Memnon

(Greek mythology) An Ethiopian king and son of Tithonus and Eos. Considered a great warrior, he fought on the side of Troy and was killed by Achilles.


Iphigenia

/ˌɪfɪd͡ʒɪˈnaɪə/

/ˌɪfɪˈd͡ʒiːnɪə/

From Ancient Greek Ῑ̓φιγένεια (Īphigéneia).

If we are convinced by the way the Iphigenia myth reworks and distorts the structure of the Metis myth, then we gain a new understanding of the logic underlying Athena's refusal to acknowledge the crime against Iphigenia.

2007, Amber Jacobs, On Matricide: Myth, Psychoanalysis, and the Law of the Mother, page 161:

The founding of the sanctuary at Braurona is related to the myths of Iphigenia and her brother, Orestes.

2008, Allan Brooks, Myths, Games and Conflict, page 8:

One such involuntary sacrifice is found in the story of Iphigenia, the daughter of Agamemnon, the famous Greek king and warrior.

2013, Willie Young, “4: Taking One for the Team: Baseball and Sacrifice”, in Eric Bronson, William Irwin, editors, Baseball and Philosophy: Thinking Outside the Batter's Box, page 63:

(Greek mythology) The daughter of Agamemnon and Clytaemnestra, who is sacrificed by her father to ensure the safe journey of the Greeks to Troy.


havfrue

A girl one time fell into the power of a Havfrue and passed fifteen years in her submarine abode without ever seeing the sun.

1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 153:

(mythology) A type of mermaid of Danish folklore.


genius loci

head

genius loci (plural genii loci or genii locorum)

genii loci (plural)
genii locorum (plural)

jēʹnyəs lōʹkī

jēʹnyəs lōʹsī

/ˈɡɛnɪˌʊs ˈloʊki/

jēʹnyəs lōʹkī

jēʹnyəs lōʹsī

/ˈɡɛnɪˌʊs ˈləʊki/

Learned borrowing from Latin genius loci (“tutelary deity of a/the place”), from the singular genitive form of locus (“place”).

lbor

(Roman mythology) The minor deity or spirit watching over a particular place.


epiclesis

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek ἐπίκλησις (epíklēsis, “invocation”).

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) A particular appearance or aspect of a deity.


loogaroo

Probably from English loup-garou or its source, French loup-garou (“werewolf”). Compare Haitian Creole lougarou.

Coordinate term: soucouyant

(mythology, Caribbean) A creature of Caribbean mythology similar to a vampire or werewolf.


Callirrhoë

(Greek mythology) A naiad, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys.


Ptah

(Egyptian mythology) A god of creativity and craftsmen, sometimes also identified with the gods of death and the birth of the sun.


Circe

(Greek mythology) An enchantress who turned Odysseus's men into pigs.


Hyllus

(Greek mythology) The son of Heracles and Deianira


woodnymph

(Greek mythology) A nymph residing in a forest, a dryad.


dogman

From dog (“the domesticated mammal Canis familiaris or Canis lupus familiaris”) + -man (suffix denoting someone (possibly implied male) who is an expert in an area, who is employed or holds a position in an area, or who takes part in an activity) or man (senses 2 and 3).

suffix

[T]his tradition certainly influenced that of Dog-Men (cynanthropy) and of dog-headed men (cynocephaly), […] Dog-Men, however, have historically enjoyed a much richer and more varied mythology than their lycanthropic cousins, no doubt as a result of the ambiguity of the dog itself as much as of cultural or historical trends.

1991, David Gordon White, “Hell is Other People”, in Myths of the Dog-man, Chicago, Ill., London: University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 15:

A dogman’s legs are back bent, crooked as a dog’s. Its body is covered in fine fur, and its face has a dog-like snout and ear. A dogman’s arms and torso are completely humanoid, save for the its strange paws, that are vaguely human-like, but with thick dark claws.

2002, Sovereign Stone: Bestiary of Loerem, Lake Geneva, Wis.: Sovereign Press, →ISBN, page 56, column 1:

I was interested in the Wisconsin dogman sightings, which were kind of scary, but when you started talking about the ones showing up in bedrooms I must have been agape and my hair [standing] on end.

2016, Linda S. Godfrey, quoting Matt Ballotti, “Shadow Wolves”, in Monsters among Us: An Exploration of Otherworldly Bigfoots, Wolfmen, Portals, Phantoms, and Odd Phenomena, New York, N.Y.: TarcherPerigee, →ISBN, pages 95–96:

Sightings of mysterious creatures that appear to be part human and part wolf are reported in modern times all over the world. […] Their apparent hybrid nature makes them “dogmen” or “man-wolves.” […] Reports of dogmen date to ancient times. In some cases, they were thought to be a type of debased human.

2018, Rosemary Ellen Guiley, “Introduction: An Overview of Werewolves and Their Kin”, in Rosemary Ellen Guiley, editor, Fate Presents Werewolves and Dogmen, New Milford, Conn.: Visionary Living, →ISBN:

(cryptozoology, mythology) An alleged cryptid or mythological creature that is part dog and part man; also (religion) a deity who is part dog and part man.


Panic

en-adj

Panic (comparative more Panic, superlative most Panic)

more Panic (comparative)
most Panic (superlative)

(Greek mythology, archaic) Synonym of Pandean (“pertaining to the Greek god Pan”)


vishap

Learned borrowing from Armenian վիշապ (višap).

lbor

(Armenian mythology) a dragon in Armenian mythology closely associated with water


Brunhild

From German Brunhilde, from Middle High German Briunhilde, from Old High German *Brunnīhilta, from Proto-Germanic *Brunjōhildiz (from *brunjǭ (“breastplate”) + *hildiz (“battle, fight”)).

der

Brunhild is a complex figure, indeed. In Hebbel's trilogy, Brunhild is one of the figures who spans both levels, those of history and myth.

1999, Mary A. Cicora, Wagner's Ring and German Drama: Comparative Studies in Mythology and History in Drama, page 79:

In manuscripts A and B,^([of the Nibelungenlied]) the smiles of Gunther, Siegfried, and Brunhild are recognized as expressions of power and are greeted with the appropriate responses of retaliation, subjugation, or subjugation followed by retaliation.

2003, Kathryn Starkey, “Brunhild's Smile”, in C. Stephen Jaeger, Ingrid Kasten, editors, Codierungen von Emotionen im Mittelalter / Emotions and Sensibilities in the Middle Ages, page 160:

Brunhild resembles Minerva in her martial tastes, physical appearance, and wisdom; but her anger and resentment when Sigurd forgets her for Gudrun is like the wrath of Œnone, whom Paris deserts to woo Helen.

2010, H. A. Guerber, Hammer of Thor: Norse Mythology and Legends, Special edition, page 248:

(Germanic mythology) A shieldmaiden and valkyrie in Germanic mythology, a main character in the Nibelungenlied, Völsunga saga, and some poems of the Poetic Edda.


afanc

(Celtic mythology, mythology) A lake monster in Welsh mythology, described variously as resembling a crocodile, beaver or dwarf-like creature, and sometimes said to be a demon.


Mimantean

en-adj

Mimantean (comparative more Mimantean, superlative most Mimantean)

more Mimantean (comparative)
most Mimantean (superlative)

From Ancient Greek Μῑμάντος (Mīmántos), genitive case of Μίμᾱς (Mímās), from earlier Μίμανς (Mímans).

Draughts from the fount of Nile [...] or the steep Mimantian height, Snow-capped

1908, Jane Ellen Harrison, “Orphic Mysteries”, in Prolegomena to the study of Greek religion, page 514:

(mythology) Of or relating to the giant Mimas in Greek mythology


Tiamat

Learned borrowing from Akkadian 𒀀𒀊𒁀 (tiāmtum, “sea; a deity”), from Proto-Semitic *tihām- (“sea”).

lbor

(mythology) A Babylonian goddess who personifies the sea, considered the monstrous embodiment of primordial chaos.


Lahamu

(mythology) In Akkadian mythology, a protective and beneficent deity, the first-born daughter of Apsu and Tiamat.


Lahmu

(mythology) In Akkadian mythology, a protective and beneficent deity, the first-born son of Apsu and Tiamat.


Merope

(Greek mythology) The youngest of the Pleiades, daughters of Atlas and Pleione, and a consort of Hermes.

(Greek mythology) A daughter of Cypselus, king of Arcadia.


Aegina

(Greek mythology) A nymph of the island that bears her name.


Chiron

(Greek mythology) An old, wise centaur who served as Achilles' mentor and teacher.


Cyllenean

(mythology) Of or relating to Cyllene in Greek mythology.


Iridian

(mythology) Of or relating to Iris in Greek mythology.


Themistian

(mythology) Of or relating to the Greek titan Themis.


Junonian

(mythology) Of or relating to the Roman god Juno.


Dionean

en-adj

Dionean (comparative more Dionean, superlative most Dionean)

more Dionean (comparative)
most Dionean (superlative)

(mythology) Of or relating to the Titan Dione in Greek mythology.


Iapetian

/aɪəˈpiːʃən/

(mythology) Of or relating to the Titan Iapetus in Greek mythology.


Enceladan

(Greek mythology, astronomy) Of or relating to Enceladus.


Protean

(mythology) Of or relating to the god Proteus in Greek mythology.


Enceladean

(Greek mythology) Of or relating to the giant Enceladus in Greek mythology.


Ganymedean

/ˌɡænəmɪˈdiː.ən/

(Greek mythology) Of or relating to the hero Ganymede in Greek mythology.


Tethyan

(mythology) Of or relating to Titan Tethys in Greek mythology.


Phoebean

(mythology) Of or relating to the Titan Phoebe in Greek mythology.

(mythology) Of or relating to Phoebus (Helios).


Hyperionian

(mythology) Of or relating to the Titan Hyperion in Greek mythology.


Cupidinian

The Cupidinian fires burn in my breast.


Metidian

Metidian (comparative more Metidian, superlative most Metidian)

more Metidian (comparative)
most Metidian (superlative)

(mythology) Of or relating to the Oceanid Metis in Greek mythology.


Apophian

(Egyptian mythology) Of or relating to Apophis.


scoutcraft

en-noun

scoutcraft (plural scoutcrafts or scoutcraft)

scoutcrafts (plural)
scoutcraft (plural)

Enemy scoutcraft, extreme range.

1994, Debra Doyle, James D. Macdonald, By Honor Betray'd:

In August 1954 a Venusian scoutcraft allegedly flew Adamski around the moon, showing him extraterrestrial cities and hangars as well as forests, lakes, and rivers.

1999, Jerome Clark, Unexplained!: Strange Sightings, Incredible Occurrences & Puzzling Physical Phenomena, Visible Ink Press, page 7:

He flies around the Galaxy all alone in just a little tiny scoutcraft?

2001, Douglas Kendall, Battle of Infinity City, page 298:

In the ensuing years it had never come to that, yet every scoutcraft was equipped with a self-destruct mechanism, and every commander was prepared at all times to activate it.

2006, Margaret Wander Bonanno, Strangers From The Sky, Pocket Books, page 32:

The nearer they closed in; tiny scoutcrafts could be seen continuingly migrating to and from them.

2013, Chris J. Berry, The Celestial Window, page 137:

(rare, science fiction, ufology) A spacecraft used for scouting.


penates

From Latin Penātēs, from penus (“inner part of house”).

lest the name thereof being discovered unto their enemies, their Penates and Patronal Gods might be called forth by charms and incantations.

1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica, I.3:

(Roman mythology) The household deities thought to watch over the houses and storerooms of ancient Rome.


stellified

Orion is a stellified hunter[…]

1983, Douglas Brooks-Davies, The Mercurian Monarch: magical politics from Spenser to Pope, page 31:

(mythology) Placed in the heavens by the gods in the form of a celestial body.


talaria

From Latin tālāria, plural form of tālāris (“of or pertaining to the ankle or heel”), from tālus (“anklebone, talus; heel”), possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *teh₂g- (“to touch”).

refn

From the collection of the Getty Villa in Los Angeles, California, USA.

der

Byres has drawn these figures with wings at their ankles, sometimes fastened to the leg, and sometimes like those at their shoulders, growing from the flesh—in both which ways the talaria of Mercury and Perseus are represented on ancient monuments. Nothing of this sort could I perceive; it was manifest to me that these were not talaria, but simple buskins with peaked flaps, such as are commonly depicted on vases of the archaic Greek style, and on the legs of Roman Lares in the paintings of Pompeii.

1848, George Dennis, “Bieda.—Blera.”, in The Cities and Cemeteries of Etruria. … In Two Volumes, volume I, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, footnote 10, page 319:

From the Graiæ the literary myths make him [Perseus] go to the Nymphs, the artistic ones to the Naiads or nymphs of the lake Tritonis, from which he receives the helmet of Hades, the kibisis or wallet, and the talaria or winged sandals. [...] Other versions made him receive the helmet and talaria from Hermes. On the early monuments the helmet of Hades is like the petasus of Hermes, and the sandals are winged, but in many other works of art, such as mirrors or gems, the talaria are represented as wings, which he attaches to his feet.

1854 May 25, Samuel Birch, “V. On a Vase Representing an Adventure of Perseus.”, in Archaeologia: Or, Miscellaneous Tracts Relating to Antiquity, London: Published by the Society of Antiquaries of London; printed by J[ohn] B[owyer] Nichols and Sons, […], published 1855, →OCLC, page 56:

With his horizon all his own, yet he a poor man, born to be poor, with his inherited Irish poverty or poor life, his Adam's grandmother and boggy ways, not to rise in this world, he nor his posterity, till their wading webbed bog-trotting feet get talaria to their heels.

1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Baker Farm”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields, →OCLC, page 225:

It was the god Hermes, he who conducted souls to the Elysian fields, the slender, agile, elegant figure, beautiful in its sinuous motion, with the petasus on his head and the winged talaria on his ankles, that I beheld floating over me.

1867 May, W. W. S., “A Modern Magician”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CI, number DCXIX, Edinburgh: William Blackwood & Sons, […], →OCLC, page 566:

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) The winged sandals worn by certain gods and goddesses, especially the Roman god Mercury (and his Greek counterpart Hermes).


Hermaphroditus

From Latin, from Ancient Greek Ἑρμαφρόδιτος (Hermaphróditos, from Ἑρμῆς (Hermês) + Ἀφροδίτη (Aphrodítē)).

bor

Ἑρμαφρόδιτος

(Greek mythology) The son of Hermes and Aphrodite who merged bodies with a naiad.


Puck

From puck (“mischievous spirit”), from Middle English pouke, from Old English pūca (“goblin, demon”), from Proto-Germanic *pūkô (“a goblin, spook”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)pāug(')- (“brilliance, spectre”). Cognate with Icelandic púki, dialectal Swedish puke (“devil”), Middle Low German spūk (“apparition, ghost”), German Spuk (“a haunting”). More at spook.

cog

(mythology) A mischievous sprite in Celtic mythology and English folklore.


Hygiea

From Latin Hygēa, Hygīa, from Ancient Greek Ὑγίεια (Hugíeia), Ὑγεία (Hugeía).

(Greek mythology) Ancient Greek goddess of health, cleanliness, and sanitation. Her Roman name is Hygēa/Hygīa or Salus.


Belial

From Latin Bĕlĭal, from Hebrew בְלִיַּעַל.
Of uncertain origin. It has been conventionally been interpreted as בְּלִי (“without”) + a word meaning "use" (hence "useless, worthless"), but it is unclear what the latter word is.

bor

Hebrew בְלִיַּעַל

Here, too, the poet calls attention to Belial's role as one who blurs the borderline between essence and appearance: Belial himself seems fair (physically attractive), but is empty inside, and Milton was surely aware that in Hebrew the first syllable of the fallen angel's name means without.

2016 February 24, Nancy Rosenfeld, The Human Satan in Seventeenth-Century English Literature: From Milton to Rochester, Routledge, →ISBN, page 93:

(mythology) A wicked demon in Christian and Jewish apocrypha.

بليعال

a wicked demon in Christian and Jewish apocrypha


Atalanta

From Ancient Greek Ἀταλάντη (Atalántē, “balanced”), from ἀ- (a-, “used to express unity”) + τάλαντον (tálanton, “balanced”).

der

36 Atalante
Atalanta
Guido Reni
Hippomenes

It is the Arcadian Atalanta, the daughter of Iasus and Clymene, who is primarily known from the tales of the Calydonian boar hunt and the Argonauts. The Boeotian version of Atalanta is the daughter of King Schoeneus and is primarily noted for her skill in the footrace. In both versions of the myth, Atalanta was a local figure allied to the goddess Artemis.

Abandoned at birth by her parents, Iasus and Clymene, Atalanta was raised by bears and later rescued by a hunter who taught her the ways of mortals. When Atalanta found fame as a runner and marksman, her parents reclaimed her.

2001, Suzanne I. Barchers, From Atalanta to Zeus, Greenwood Publishing Group (Teacher Ideas Press), page 17:

(Greek mythology) A huntress and heroine in Greek mythology, renowned for her great speed and strength; depending on the version of the myth, either the daughter of Iasus (a prince of Arcadia) by Clymene or of King Schoeneus of Boeotia.


Silenus

As a goat he [Dionysus] can hardly be separated from the minor divinities, the Pans, Satyrs, and Silenuses, all of whom are closely associated with him and are represented more or less completely in the form of goats.

1890, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough, volume 2, page 34:

(Greek mythology) A companion and tutor to the wine god Dionysus.


Juventas

(Roman mythology) The goddess of youth, and a daughter of Jupiter and Juno. Juventas was the cupbearer of the gods until she married her paternal halfbrother, Hercules, with whom she had twin sons, Alexiares and Anicetus. She is the Roman counterpart of Hebe.


Laertes

(Greek mythology) the father of Odysseus


Telemachus

From Ancient Greek Τηλέμαχος (Tēlémakhos).

(Greek mythology) the son of Odysseus and Penelope


Diomedes

Borrowed from Latin Diomēdēs, from Ancient Greek Διομήδης (Diomḗdēs).

(Greek mythology) a hero in Greek mythology, mostly known for his participation in the Trojan War


duat

(Egyptology, Egyptian mythology) The realm of the dead in Egyptian mythology.


Jade Emperor

/ˈd͡ʒeɪd ˈɛmpəɹə/

/ˈd͡ʒeɪd ˈɛmpɹə/

/ˈd͡ʒeɪd ˈɛmpəɹɚ/

/ˈd͡ʒeɪd ˈɛmpɹɚ/

Calque of Chinese 玉皇 (Yùhuáng) or 玉帝 (Yù Dì, “Jade Emperor”).

(Chinese mythology) The lord of the Celestial Hierarchy, ruling over Heaven, Earth, and Hell.


Jaya

Borrowed from Sanskrit जय (jaya, literally “victory”).

bor+

(mythology) One of the demigod gatekeepers (the other being Vijaya) of the abode of Vishnu.


Eurus

For a Tempeſt. Take Eurus, Zephyr, Auſter and Boreas, and caſt them together in one Verſe. Add to theſe of Rain, Lightning, and of Thunder (the loudeſt you can) quantum ſufficit. Mix your Clouds and Billows well together till they foam, and thicken your Deſcription here and there with a Quickſand. Brew your Tempeſt well in your Head, before you ſet it a blowing.

1714 June 10, [Alexander Pope], The Guardian, volume I, number 78, London: Printed for J[acob] Tonson, at Shakespear's-Head over-against Catherine-street in the Strand, page 332:

(Greek mythology) The god of the East Wind, autumn, protection, comfort, balance, preservation, change, adulthood and maturity.


Boreas

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Βορέᾱς (Boréās).

1714 June 10, [Alexander Pope], “A Receit to make an Epick Poem”, in The Guardian, volume I, number 78, London: Printed for J[acob] Tonson, at Shakespear's-Head over-against Catherine-street in the Strand, page 332:

BOREAS, one of the four Cardinal Winds, and one of the Deities of the Heathens, was the Son of Aſtræus and Aurora, and had his Seat at Thrace. Pindar calls him the King of Winds. [Footnote numbers omitted.]

1735, Pierre Bayle with Pierre des Maizeaux, The Dictionary Historical and Critical of Mr Peter Bayle. The Second Edition, Carefully Collated with the Several Editions of the Original; in which many Passages are Restored, and the Whole Greatly Augmented, particularly with a Translation of the Quotations from Eminent Writers in Various Languages. To which is Prefixed, the Life of the Author, Revised, Corrected, and Enlarged, by Mr Des Maizeaux, Fellow of the Royal Society, 2nd edition, volume II, London: Printed for J. J. and P. Knapton; [et al.], →OCLC, page 78:

Orithya was the daughter of Erectheus, and the prieſteſs of Boreas; for each of the winds has a preſiding deity, which the teleſtic art, or the art pertaining to ſacred myſteries, religiouſly cultivates. […] Orithya, therefore, becoming enthusiastic, being poſſeſſed by her proper God Boreas, and no longer energizing as a human being (for animals ceaſe to energize according to their own peculiarities, when poſſeſſed by ſuperior causes), died under the inſpiring influence, and thus was ſaid to have been raviſhed by Boreas.

1804, Plato, “The Phædrus”, in Floyer Sydenham, Thomas Taylor, transl., The Works of Plato, viz. His Fifty-five Dialogues, and Twelve Epistles, Translated from the Greek; Nine of the Dialogues by the Late Floyer Sydenham, and the Remainder by Thomas Taylor: with Occasional Annotations on the Nine Dialogues Translated by Sydenham, and Copious Notes, by the Latter Translator; in which is Given the Substance of nearly all the Existing Greek Ms. Commentaries on the Philosophy of Plato, and a Considerable Portion of such as are already Published. In Five Volumes, volume I, London: Printed for Thomas Taylor, by R. Wilks, Chancery-Lane; and sold by E. Jeffery, and R. E. Evans, Pall-Mall, page 293, footnote 2:

The promotion of Pan is matched by the new attention Athens paid to Boreas, god of the north wind, after he destroyed the Persian fleet off Artemision (Herodotus, 7.189) A tradition (λέγεται δε λόγος) held that the Athenians prayed to the god before the battle to assist them, the equivalent of the prebattle encounter between Pan and Pheidippides. As in the complaint of Pan, the god Boreas was remembered as assisting the Greeks before, in this case by having sent a storm off Mount Athos during the expedition under Mardonios (6.44.2).

1995, Sarah P. Morris, Daidalos and the Origins of Greek Art, Princeton University Press, →ISBN, page 322:

One very windy day, the god Boreas became a citizen of the town of Thurii, the new Sybaris in Magna Graecia. In more concrete terms, in 397 b.c. Dionysius of Syracuse, at war with the Carthaginians, launched an expedition of three hundred ships crammed with armed men – hoplites, men of bronze – against Thurii. The North Wind was blowing against them, and Boreas wrecked the ship. It was a disaster for Dionysius, but the citizens of Thurii, saved by the god Boreas, passed a decree granting citizenship to the wind.

2000, Giulia Sissa with Marcel Detienne, “When the Olympians Donned the Citizen's Costume”, in Janet Lloyd, transl., The Daily Life of the Greek Gods, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, →ISBN, page 137:

(Greek mythology) The god of the North Wind.


ice giant

The drops became living by the power of him who had sent the wind ; and from them sprang Ymir, the ice-giant.

1832, Francis Lieber, Edward Wigglesworth, Thomas Gamaliel Bradford, editors, Encyclopædia Americana; A Popular Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature, History, Politics, and Biography, volume 9, Philadelphia: Carey and Lea, page 317:

The three sons of Borr, Othin, Wili, and We, grandsons of Buri, the first man, slay Ymir, the father of the Hrimthursar or Ice giants, and his body serves them for the construction of the world.

1879, “The Deluge: Its Tradition in Ancient Nations”, in The Contemporary Review, volume 36, London: Strahan and Company Limited, translation of Le déluge et l'épopée babylonnienne by François Lenormant, page 484:


Great Sky River

Translation of the name of the night sky phenomenon in several Native American cultures.

(mythology, astronomy) The Milky Way, the night sky visual phenomenon caused by dense regions of the Milky Way Galaxy appearing nebulous. (Used especially in Native American contexts.)


Silvery River

(mythology, astronomy) the Milky Way, the night sky visual phenomenon caused by dense regions of the Milky Way Galaxy appearing nebulous (generally found when referring to East Asians in a historical context, situated in East Asia)


Takamagahara

Borrowed from Japanese 高天原, literally "the plain of high heaven".

(Japanese mythology) A place in Japanese mythology, the dwelling-place of the kami, said to be connected to the Earth by a bridge.


Aphroditus

From Ancient Greek Ἀφρόδιτος (Aphróditos), masculine form of Ἀφροδίτη (Aphrodítē).

(Greek mythology) A male Aphrodite, from Cyprus, represented as a herm with a phallus, who in later mythology became known as Hermaphroditus, the son of Hermes and Aphrodite.


MIB

en-noun

MIB (countable and uncountable, plural MIBs)

(US, ufology, conspiracy theorists) Initialism of man in black.

(US, in the plural) Initialism of men in black.

Initialism of man in black.
Initialism of men in black.


Daedalus

From Latin Daedalus, from Ancient Greek Δαίδαλος (Daídalos).

Daedalus
Daedalus (disambiguation)
Project Daedalus

(Greek mythology) Greek mythological figure who crafted the waxen wings of Icarus.


Frigg

From Old Norse Frigg, from Proto-Germanic *Frijjō. Cognate with the native Old English Frīġ. Doublet of Priya.

(Germanic mythology, Norse mythology) The wife of Odin, and the Norse/Germanic goddess of married love, the heavens, home and hearth, after whom Friday is named (due to her being identified with Venus).


Saci

(Hinduism, mythology) The goddess of wrath and jealousy in Hindu mythology.


Aphrodisian

en-adj

Aphrodisian (comparative more Aphrodisian, superlative most Aphrodisian)

more Aphrodisian (comparative)
most Aphrodisian (superlative)

From Ancient Greek ἀφροδῑ́σιος (aphrodī́sios) + -an.

suffix

Near-synonym: Venusian

en:pertaining to the Greek goddess Aphrodite

(Greek mythology) Pertaining to the Greek goddess Aphrodite.


cerastes

(mythology) A very flexible horned serpent in Greek legend, said to have no spine and to hide its head in the sand awaiting prey.


Nortia

(mythology) An Etruscan goddess of time, fate, destiny and chance.


Shirime

(Japanese mythology) A yōkai whose appearance is of a person with an eye in place of the anus.


rokurokubi

Borrowed from Japanese 轆(ろく)轤(ろ)首(くび) (rokurokubi).

(Japanese mythology) A yōkai in the form of a person who can stretch their neck to great lengths.


Aeaea

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Αἰαία (Aiaía).

(Greek mythology) The mythical island said to be the home of Circe.


Asmodæus

Ligated spelling of Latin Asmodaeus, from Ancient Greek Ἀσμοδαῖος (Asmodaîos), from Hebrew אשמדאי.

der

Hebrew אשמדאי

But the truth was that one Admodæus (an evil spirit, sprung from the incestuous embraces of Naamah and Tubal‐Cain, and amorous of the bride,) had killed them all.

1829, Algernon Herbert, Nimrod, pages 20–21:

(mythology) Archaic spelling of Asmodeus.


Œneus

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Οἰνεύς (Oineús).

For they ſay, that Œneus who reigned in Ætolia, being driven from his kingdom by the ſons of Agrius, fled to Diomed at Argos; and that Diomed led an army into Calydonia, and revenged the injuries of Œneus, but told him, that he could not remain in his dominions.

1794, Pausanias, The Description of Greece, (translated from Greek) volume I, chapter XXV, page #206

(Greek mythology) King of Calydon; husband of Althaea.


Œcles

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Οἰκλῆς (Oiklês).

The gods in those days were sometimes mortals who are still worshipped, Aristæus, and Britomartis of Crete, and Hercules, the son of Alcmena, and Amphiarus, the son of Œcles, and beside them Castor and Pollux.

1917, Pausanias, quoted by Donald Mackenzie in Myths of Crete and Pre‐Hellenic Europe, re‐published by Forgotten Books, page 298

(Greek mythology) Son of Mantius and father of Amphiaraus.


Œnomaus

This ſeemed totally impoſſible, and to render it more terrible, Œnomaus declared that death would be the conſequence of a defeat in the ſuitors.

1797 C.E., John Lemprière, Bibliotheca Classica, third edition, MY, page #519

For every suitor, he presented the challenge of a chariot race across the Peloponnese to the Isthmus of Corinth. If the challenger won, he got to marry the girl. If he lost, the king would kill him. Oenomaüs was weighed down with his full armor— probably so as to be ready to murder the challenger who would lose[…]

2015 July 6, Richard A. Spencer, Harry Potter and the Classical World: Greek and Roman Allusions in J.K. Rowling's Modern Epic, McFarland, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 235:

(Greek mythology) Alternative form of Oenomaus


Œnotrus

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Οἴνωτρος (Oínōtros).

[…] yet I hold it to have been a very ancient dialect, (probably brought into Latium by Œnotrus and his Arcadians, 17 generations before the Trojan war), which came off from the parent language before it was completely formed.

1789, James Burnett Monboddo, chapter III, in Of the Origin and Progress of Language, volume V, J. Balfour, page 91:

(Greek mythology) One of the younger sons of Lycaon.


Twelve Labours of Hercules

(Greek mythology, Roman mythology) Twelve tasks carried out by the Greek hero Herakles (romanized as Hercules) as his penance.


yokai

From Japanese 妖怪 (yōkai, “ghost, phantom”).

(folklore, Japanese mythology) Any of various supernatural monsters, sometimes shapeshifters, in Japanese folklore.


Latona

From Latin Lātōna, a Latinization of Ancient Greek Λητώ (Lētṓ).

(Greek mythology) The Roman counterpart of the Greek goddess Leto and the mother of Apollo.


Leda

(Greek mythology) The wife of Tyndareus and mother of Helen, Clytemnestra and Castor and Pollux hatched from eggs as a result of a seduction by Zeus in the guise of a swan


Aegeus

(Greek mythology) A character in the founding myth of Athens.


tokoloshe

Borrowed from Zulu [Term?]. Compare Afrikaans tokkelossie.

(mythology) In Zulu mythology, a mischievous dwarf-like spirit man that can become invisible by drinking water or swallowing a stone.


Zephyrus

From Middle English Zeferus, Zepherus, Zephirus, Zephyrus, from Latin zephyrus, from Ancient Greek Ζέφυρος (Zéphuros). Not related to Latin zephirum (“zero”). Doublet of zefir, zéphire, Zephyr, and zephyr.

doublet

(Greek mythology) The Ancient Greek god of the west wind, supposed to be the gentlest of the winds and the messenger of spring. His parents are Eos/Aurora and Astraeus, and his brothers are Boreas, Notus and Eurus, (the Anemoi), and the Astra Planeta. His wife is Chloris and their son is Karpos. His Roman counterpart is Favonius.


Father Sky

(mythology) The god of the sky in various cultures.


Hippolyte

(Greek mythology) Alternative form of Hippolyta


warg

Learned borrowing from Old Norse vargr (“wolf”), reintroduced by J. R. R. Tolkien; compare also Old English wearg.

lbor

But even the wild Wargs (for so the evil wolves over the Edge of the Wild were named) cannot climb trees. […] Every now and then all the Wargs in the circle would answer their grey chief all together, and their dreadful clamour almost made the hobbit fall out of his pine-tree.

1937 September 21, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “Out of the Frying-pan into the Fire”, in The Hobbit: Or There and Back Again, revised edition, New York, N.Y.: Ballantine Books, published February 1966 (August 1967 printing), →OCLC, page 105:

My question is do all of the executable versions for PC compatibles have the color option enabled? If so, what am I missing to not get say yellow for a hill orc, grey for a goblin, white for my pet, red for a wolf, brown for a warg, etc?

1993, jbatka, “Multiple colors for PC compatible”, in rec.hack (Usenet):

He'd bought a ton of silver to forge magic swords that would slay the Stark wargs.

1999, George R. R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, Bantam, published 2011, page 462:

The monsters are identified not as trolls, a word apparently not available in English at the time, but (among other things) as wargs, whatever that means; Grendel is called a heoro-wearh at line 1267 and his mother a grund-wyrgen at line 1518.

2007, Stephen O. Glosecki, Myth in Northwest Europe:

(fantasy, mythology) A type of particularly wild or hostile wolf.


Ceyx

(Greek mythology) A king who was transformed into a kingfisher, together with his wife Alcyone.


wereleopard

They are believed to be "Ju-Ju" or were-leopards, and in this guise to roam through the forest in bands, bent on evil and destruction.

1936, Rollo Ahmed, The Black Art, London: Long, page 168:

A) “One of them was a wereleopard; the other was a werewolf; both of them were strippers.”

2008 June 22, Dwight Garner, “Inside the List”, in New York Times:

While there'd been whispers about the Pack being unhappy with me for entangling myself with a wereleopard, Caitlyn wasn't just a wereleopard to me. She was my mate. A wolf didn't choose those kinds of things.

2019, Sarah Makela, The Leopard Who Claimed A Wolf: New Adult Shifter Romance, Kissa Press LLC, →ISBN:

(fantasy, mythology) A shapeshifter who can change between leopard and human form.

léopard-garou

shapeshifter assuming the shape of a leopard


Medea

(Greek mythology) An enchantress who helped Jason obtain the Golden Fleece.


Haietlik

(mythology) A mythical sea serpent from Nootka mythology.


Laocoön

From Latin Lāocoōn, from Ancient Greek Λᾱοκόων (Lāokóōn).

(Greek mythology) A Trojan priest of Poseidon (or Apollo, depending on the author), whose rules he had defied (or whom he had otherwise offended), who tried to warn his fellow citizens against the Trojan horse. He was killed for this, along with his two sons, by giant snakes sent by Minerva (or Poseidon, or Apollo).

(Greek mythology) An Argonaut, son of Porthaon.


Tiresias

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Τειρεσίας (Teiresías).

[…]somewhere a ship's radio was blaring out the latest jazz-hit to reach Alexandria:
Old Tiresias / No one half so breezy as, / Half so free and easy as / Old Tiresias.

1958, Lawrence Durrell, Balthazar, page 35:

1997, Nicole Loraux, translated by Paula Wissing, The Experiences of Tiresias: The Feminine and the Greek Man, Princeton University Press, →ISBN:

The myth associated with how Tiresias became a hermaphrodite reveals much about relations between the sexes.

2004, Leonard Shlain, Sex, Time, and Power: How Women's Sexuality Shaped Human Evolution, page 255:

(Greek mythology) A long-lived blind soothsayer who participated over seven generations in the legendary history of (the Greek city) Thebes, noted also for being transformed into a woman for seven years, so being symbolic of androgyny.


werecat

(fantasy, mythology) A shapeshifter who can change between cat and human form.

貓人

shapeshifter assuming the shape of a cat


Niobe

(Greek mythology) A daughter of Tantalus, said to have turned into stone while weeping for her children.


triple goddess

en-noun

triple goddess (plural triple goddesses)

The goddess Brig was a triple goddess of poetry, smithcraft and healing, along with her two sisters of the same name.

2012, Sharon Paice MacLeod, Celtic Myth and Religion: A Study of Traditional Belief, with Newly Translated Prayers, Poems and Songs, McFarland & Company, Inc., →ISBN, page 51:

(mythology) A female triune deity, either one goddess with three distinct aspects or manifestations, or three goddesses who form a unit.


Proserpina

From Latin Prōserpina from Ancient Greek Περσεφόνη (Persephónē) by metathesis perhaps first in Magna Graecia via a Sicilian Doric Greek Προσερπίνα (Proserpína) or Ionic Greek Προσερπίνη (Proserpínē), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *pers-o- (“sheaf of corn, grain, seed”) and *gʷʰn̥-t- (“to strike”), meaning 'corn-thresher'.

der

(Roman mythology) The goddess of springtime, queen of the underworld; the Roman equivalent of Persephone.


bonnacon

(mythology) A mythical bovine creature with huge curved horns that produces burning dung.


Cloelia

From Latin Cloelia, feminine form of the gens name Cloelius, Cluilius, from clueo.

(Roman mythology) A woman who saved Roman hostages from the Clusian camp.


Freyja

Borrowed from Old Norse Freyja, from freyja (“lady”), from Proto-Germanic *frawjǭ.

(Norse mythology) A deity among the Vanir associated with sex, death, and seiðr, who receives half of those who die in battle in the afterlife field Fólkvangr (the other half going to Odin's hall, Valhalla), and whose brother is Freyr.


Banba

(Irish mythology) A patron goddess of Ireland.


Argean

en-adj

Argean (comparative more Argean, superlative most Argean)

more Argean (comparative)
most Argean (superlative)

(Greek mythology) Alternative form of Argoan (“of or pertaining to the mythical ship Argo.”)


sea king

(mythology or fiction) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: A ruler of the seas, e.g. Poseidon.


Vulcanian

Directly from Latin Vulcāniānus or from Latin Vulcānius + -an within English, from Vulcānus + -iānus (“-ian”) or -ius (“-y: forming adjectives”). In reference to a type or stage of volcanic activity, via Italian Vulcaniano, with specific reference to Giuseppe Mercalli's observations of the 1888–90 eruptions of the Aeolian island Vulcano. Equivalent to Vulcan + -ian. Doublet of volcanian. Compare slightly earlier Middle French vulcanien.

...Nor cou'd Vulcanian Flame
The Stench abolish; or the Savour tame...

1697, John Dryden translating Vergil as Georgics, Book III, in The Works of Virgil, p. 121

(Roman mythology) Of, related to, or created by Vulcan, the Roman god of fire and metalwork, considered equivalent to the Greek Hephaestus and several German and Celtic gods.

Yet Muto, like a good Vulcanian,
An honest Cuckold, calls the bastard sonne,
And brags of that which others for him done.

1598, John Marston, “Certaine Satyres”, in The Metamorphosis of Pigmalions Image..., page 41:

(rare, obsolete) Alternative letter-case form of vulcanian, a cuckold.


Mothman

(cryptozoology, ufology) A legendary creature, regarded as a cryptid or alien, reportedly seen in West Virginia in the mid-1960s.


Pegasean

Pegasean (comparative more Pegasean, superlative most Pegasean)

more Pegasean (comparative)
most Pegasean (superlative)

Deſcend from Heav'n Urania, by that name / If rightly thou art call'd, whoſe Voice divine / Following, above th' Olympian Hill I ſoare, / Above the flight of Pegaſean wing.

1667, John Milton, “Book VII”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 1–4:

(Greek mythology) Of or pertaining to the mythical winged horse Pegasus.


Hero

(Greek mythology) Any of a number of legendary men and women, including the priestess loved by Leander.


Leukothea

From Ancient Greek Λευκοθέα; "white goddess".

(Greek mythology) A nymph or minor sea goddess of Greek mythology.


Fides

(Roman mythology) Roman goddess of trust and loyalty. Her Greek equivalent was Pistis.


Eunomia

From Ancient Greek Εὐνομία (Eunomía, “Order of Law, Good Order”).


Astraea

Translingual: Astraea

Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek Ἀστραῖα (Astraîa, literally “star maiden”)

lbor

(Greek mythology) The Greek goddess of stars and justice; similar to Dike, equivalent to the Roman goddess Justitia.


Parthenope

From Latin Parthenopē, from Ancient Greek Παρθενόπη (Parthenópē, from παρθένος (parthénos, “virgin, virginal”) + ὄψ (óps, “voice”)).

der

(Greek mythology) One of the sirens, daughter of the god Achelous and the Muse Terpsichore.


Bellona

But time will teach the Russ, ev'n conquering War
Has handmaid arts: aye, aye, the Russ will woo
All sciences that speed Bellona's car,
All murder's tactic arts, and win them too […]

1831, Thomas Campbell, The Power of Russia:

(Roman mythology) Roman goddess of war, wife or sister of Mars. Equivalent to the Greek goddess Enyo.


Amphitrite

From Ancient Greek Ἀμφιτρίτη (Amphitrítē).

(Greek mythology) A nymph, the wife of Poseidon.


Fortuna

(Roman mythology) The Roman goddess of luck, fortune and fate, equivalent to the Greek goddess Tyche.


Egeria

On the heroine of his play he dwelt with the passionate fondness of a lover: there the real mingled with the ideal: could he write of love, and not think of Ethel Churchill? She was the Egeria of his heart, who taught him all the truth of tenderness.

1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “A London Life”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 165:

(Roman mythology) A nymph or minor goddess from Roman mythology.


Midgard

From Icelandic, from Old Norse Miðgarðr.

(Norse mythology) The Earth of traditional Germanic cosmology, conceived as a middle realm between heaven (Asgard) and hell (Helheim); the abode of human beings, between those of the gods (Æsir) and the dead.

Midgård

the abode of humans, between heaven and hell


Lotophagi

Latin, from Ancient Greek Λωτοφάγος (Lōtophágos).

(Greek mythology) The lotus eaters; a people visited by Ulysses who subsisted on the lotus.


Anahita

From Old Persian 𐎠𐎴𐏃𐎡𐎫 (a-n-h-i-t /anahita/).

(Iranian mythology) the name of an Iranian goddess, associated with fertility, healing and wisdom.


gynosphinx

en-noun

gynosphinx (plural gynosphinxes or gynosphinges)

gynosphinxes (plural)
gynosphinges (plural)

(mythology) A sphinx with the head of a woman.


Argoan

en-adj

Argoan (comparative more Argoan, superlative most Argoan)

more Argoan (comparative)
most Argoan (superlative)

(Greek mythology) Pertaining to the mythical ship Argo.


Orestes

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Ὀρέστης (Oréstēs).

(Greek mythology) The son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, who killed his mother, avenging his father's death, and was then pursued by the Furies.


Orcus

From Latin Orcus. Doublet of ogre and orc.

Then ſhall our footmen lie within the trench,
And with their Cannons mouth’d like Orcus gulfe
Batter the wales, and we will enter in:
And thus the Grecians ſhalbe conquered.

c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene i:

(Roman mythology) The Etruscan and Roman god of the underworld.


lemures

Coordinate term: Lares

The Lars and Lemures moan with midnight plaint.

1629, John Milton, “On the Morning of Christs Nativity”, in Poems of Mr. John Milton, […], London: […] Ruth Raworth for Humphrey Mosely, […], published 1646, →OCLC:

So still lay the figure, and so dim was its outline, that any other than Arbaces might have felt a superstitious fear, lest he beheld one of those grim lemures, who, above all other spots, haunted the threshold of the homes they formerly possessed.

1834, [Edward Bulwer-Lytton], chapter VII, in The Last Days of Pompeii. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […]; successor to Henry Colburn, →OCLC, book IV, page 13:

(Roman mythology) The spirits or ghosts of the dead, considered as malignant.


Tsukuyomi

Borrowed from Japanese 月読 (つくよみ, Tsukuyomi), originally a compound of 月 (つく, tsuku, “the moon”) + 読み (よみ, yomi, “reading”, ancient meaning of “counting”).

af

(Japanese mythology, Shinto) The Japanese moon god, son of Izanami and Izanagi and brother of Amaterasu, Susanoo, Ōyamatsumi and Kagutsuchi.


Cú Chulainn

From Irish cú (“hound”) + Culann. The latter name could be related to Ancient Greek κυλλός (kullós, “crooked, crippled”).

cog

(Irish mythology) The pre-eminent hero of Ulster in the Ulster Cycle, almost undefeatable due to his spear the Gae Bulg, but cursed to reach an early grave; son of Lugh and Deichtine.


Rhadamanthus

/ˌɹæ.dəˈmæn.θəs/

From Latin, from Ancient Greek Ῥαδάμανθυς (Rhadámanthus).

(Greek mythology) A king of Crete, one of the three judges in Hades.


Lotusland

In reference to Vancouver, coined by Canadian journalist Allan Fotheringham.

coined

We will abide in the golden vale / Of the Lotos-land, till the Lotos fail; / We will not wander more.

1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “The Lotos-Eaters”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 117:

Calypso is by far the most effective impediment Odysseus encounters on his journey home to Ithaca, holding him in a sensuous but tedious captivity for seven years, Lotusland revisited.

1994, Judith Yarnall, Transformations of Circe: The History of an Enchantress:

(Greek mythology) The legendary island of the lotus-eaters.


catasterism

From Ancient Greek καταστερισμός (katasterismós, “star legend”), from καταστερίζω (katasterízō, “to place among the stars”), from κατά (katá, “down”) + ἀστήρ (astḗr, “star”).

uder

καταστερισμός

(Greek mythology) The transformation of a hero or mythological creature, into a star, constellation, comet or other celestial object.


drighten

From Middle English drihten, from Old English dryhten (“a ruler, king, lord, prince, the supreme ruler, the Lord, God, Christ”), from Proto-Germanic *druhtinaz (“leader, chief, lord”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰrewgʰ- (“to hold, hold fast, support”), equivalent to dright (“army, host”) + -en. Cognate with Scots drichtin, drichtine (“lord, the Lord”), and with Old Frisian drochten (“lord”), Old Saxon drohtin (“lord”), Old High German truhtin, Middle High German truhten, trohten (“ruler, lord”) (dialectal German Trechtin, Trechtein (“lord, God”)), Danish drot (“king”), Swedish drott (“king, ruler, sovereign”), Icelandic dróttinn (“hero, ruler, lord”), Finnish ruhtinas (“sovereign prince”). Related also to Old English dryht (“a multitude, an army, company, body of retainers, nation, a people, men”), Old English ġedryht (“fortune, fate”), Old English drēogan (“to serve in the military, endure”). More at dree.

cog

Believe me, my drighten, there is not one of us that has ever slacked on watch before!

(historical, Anglo-Saxon, Norse mythology, fantasy, paganism) A lord; ruler; sovereign; chief; leader; prince.


Sekhmet

From Egyptian sḫmt (“Sekhmet”), in turn from sḫm (“to have control”) (compare sḫm jb (“violent”)).

(Egyptian mythology) The goddess of death, war, violence, plague, and medicine; one of the "Eyes / Daughters of Ra", the consort of Ptah; depicted as having the head of a lioness.


Hathor

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Ἅθωρ (Háthōr), from Egyptian ḥwt-ḥr O10-C9.

(Egyptian mythology) The goddess of joy, love, and motherhood; one of the "Eyes / Daughters of Ra", the consort of Ra/Horus; often depicted as having a cow's head.


Bastet

From Egyptian bꜣstjt (“Bastet”, literally “she of the ointment jar”).

bor

(Egyptian mythology) The goddess of the sun and the moon, of cats, and Lower Egypt; one of the "Eyes / Daughters of Ra", the consort of Ptah, often depicted as having a she-cat's head.


Susanoo

Borrowed from Japanese 須佐之男(すさのお) (Susanoo).

(Japanese mythology, Shinto) The main Japanese storm god (along with Raijin and Fūjin), son of Izanami and Izanagi and brother of Amaterasu, Tsukuyomi, Ōyamatsumi and Kagutsuchi.


puer aeternus

From Latin puer aeternus (“eternal boy”) (in Ovid, Metamorphoses), after use in German by Carl Jung.

(mythology) A child-god who is forever young.


hippodame

on every syde / They trembling stood, and made a long broad dyke, / That his swift charet might have passage wyde / Which foure great Hippodames did draw in temewise tyde.

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

Nor did less tumult swell the late defeat Of monstrous Dagon, from whom, worse deformed With hippodame and kraken, self -assumed, So spirits can, turned infantry and steed, Nor chose the ambush of his doubtful shape.

1851, William Wilberforce Lord, Christ in Hades:

(obsolete, rare, mythology) A sea horse or hippocampus.


jotun

Learned borrowing from Old Norse jǫtunn, from Proto-Germanic *etunaz (“giant”). Doublet of ettin.

Some with disdain his reasons heard, / While others wisht the cause deferr'd. / Then Ormur spake, in speech of scorn, / Ormur, the friend of Asbiorn, / Who, daring singly to engage, / A jotun, proved his fatal rage.

1831, Walter Savage Landor, “Gunlaug”, in Gebir, Count Julian, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, 64, New Bond Street, →OCLC, page 279:

When Christianity became the religion of the people the trolls gradually assumed something of the role formerly played by the more powerful Jotuns.

1908, The Elementary School Teacher, volume 8, Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, →OCLC, page 214:

When Odin was still young – before he had hanged himself on Yggdrasil and drunk from the Well of Wisdom – his eyes had fallen on a jotun named Loki.

1967, Ingri D'Aulaire; Edgar Parin D'aulaire, “Loki, the God of the Jotun Race”, in Norse Gods and Giants, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, ISBN 978-0-385-04908-5; republished as D'Aulaires' Book of Norse Myths, New York, N.Y.: New York Review of Books, 2005, ISBN 978-1-59017-125-7, page 42

The world in which the æsir and jötnar play out their struggle has its own set of place-names but is essentially recognizable as Scandinavia. There are rivers, mountains, forests, oceans, storms, cold weather, fierce winters, eagles, ravens, salmon, and snakes.

2001, John Lindow, “The Historical Background”, in Handbook of Norse Mythology (Handbooks of World Mythology), Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 2:

(Norse mythology) A member of a race of giants who usually stand in opposition to the Æsir and especially to Thor.

Arthur Rackham
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Fafnir
Freyja
Richard Wagner


Angelos

From Ancient Greek ἄγγελος (ángelos). Doublet of Angel.

(Greek mythology) A daughter of Zeus and Hera, and a goddess of the Underworld.


Agdistis

(Greek mythology) A hermaphroditic being, associated with the worship of Cybele or Rhea


moirai

(Greek mythology) The three Fates, personifications of destiny.


river god

/ˈɹɪvə ˌɡɒd/

It was as if she had been wooed by a river-god, who might any time take her to his wondrous halls below a watery heaven.

1859, George Eliot [pseudonym; Mary Ann Evans], Adam Bede […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, →OCLC:

Although human sacrifice was discontinued in ancient times, the idea continues that the river god claims as his own any man who falls into the stream.

1969, C. P. Fitzgerald, “The Three Ways”, in The Horizon History of China, New York: American Heritage Publishing, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 113, column 2:

From then on the people of Ye never again dared speak of the River God taking a wife.

1995, Jeannete Faurot, Asian-Pacific Folktales and Legends, Touchstone, published 1995, page 219:

Some weeks, alas, we return to camp with six dead minnows and a dripping hemp bag full of dodgy clams, but this week, praise be, the river god has smiled on us [...].

2011 October 13, Tom Meltzer, The Guardian:

(mythology) The tutelary deity of a river.


Faunus

(Roman mythology) Horned god of the forest, plains and fields; Greek counterpart: Pan.


Ramayana

Transliteration of Sanskrit रामायण (rāmāyaṇa). Doublet of Ramin.

translit

(Hinduism, Jainism, mythology) An ancient Sanskrit epic of Indian mythology about the legendary king Rāma.


Benzaiten

Borrowed from Japanese 弁才天 (Benzaiten) 弁財天 (Benzaiten).

(Japanese mythology, Shinto) (Also known as "Benten-sama") The Hindu goddess, Saraswati, of knowledge, art and beauty, music, language, wisdom, poetry and rivers.

the fat and happy god of abundance and good health

commerce and trade. Ebisu and Daikoku are often paired and represented as carvings

masks on the walls of small retail shops


Astraeus

Ancient Greek Ἀστραῖος (Astraîos), in turn from ἀστήρ (astḗr, “star”).

(Greek mythology) The Greek god of the dusk. Husband of Eos (goddess of the dawn), and father of the four Anemoi ("Winds"), and the five Astra Planeta ("Wandering Stars/Planets").


Fukurokuju

Borrowed from Japanese 福禄寿 (Fukurokuju), from Middle Chinese 福 (pjuwk, “fortune”) + 祿 (luwk, “blessings”) + 壽 (dzyuwX/dzyuwH, “longevity”).

af

(Japanese mythology, Shinto) The Japanese name for the Chinese god Xuanwu, one of the seven gods of good fortune: the god of happiness, wealth, and longevity.

Ebisu

恵比須; 恵比寿, 夷 or 戎


Pleiadean

(science fiction, ufology) An alien being from the Pleiades.


ghost rocket

A poem in Copenhagen’s Berlingske Tidende, July 31, 1946, last page, made reference to a recent sensational ghost rocket sighting over Byen, expressing relief that the “rocket” was actually a meteor:

2001, Robert E. Bartholomew, Little Green Men, Meowing Nuns, and Head-hunting Panics: A Study of Mass Psychogenic Illness and Social Delusion, McFarland, page 273:

Many ghost rocket sightings came from Sweden, which is near the Soviet Union. U.S. and British officials convinced the Swedes to study reports of the ghost rockets. The Swedes found pieces of metal that they though came from crashed ghost rockets.

2011, Michael Burgan, Andrew Nichols, Searching for Aliens, UFOs, and Men in Black, Capstone Press, page 11:

The Swedish experts claimed that some 20 percent of the ghost rocket reports appeared to be neither aircraft nor natural phenomena.

2012, Ronald Story, The Mammoth Encyclopedia of Extraterrestrial Encounters, Constable & Robinson Ltd, page 243:

unidentified flying objects
unidentified flying objects

(ufology) Any of the rocket- or missile-shaped unidentified flying objects sighted in 1946, mostly in Sweden and nearby countries.

spökraket

rocket shaped UFOs sighted in 1946 in Sweden


black triangle

Somewhere behind that blinking yellow light that black triangle was hovering, (or moving only a few miles per hour), in our direction, straight at us.

2005, Bill Foster, Peggy Foster, Nadine Wheeler, The Black Triangle Abduction, The Invisible College Press, page 22

Note: The black triangle is a commonly seen UFO.

2007, Craig R. Lang, The Cosmic Bridge, Close Encounters and Human Destiny, lulu.com, page 4:

On Thursday, July 15, 2004, I flew to Denver, Colorado, where I was scheduled to speak at the annual symposium of the Mutual UFO Network on the subject of a particular type of UFO that has become known as the “Black Triangle,” and one that has been seen regularly in the skies of practically every corner of the planet for approximately the last two decades.

2009, Nick Redfern, Memoirs of a Monster Hunter, ReadHowYouWant.com, page 105:

Just three years after the Belgian black triangle incident, a similar craft appeared over RAF Cosford and RAF Shawbury.

2011, William J. Birnes, The Everything UFO Book: An Investigation of Sightings, Cover-ups, and the Quest for Extraterrestrial Life, Adams Media, page 229:

(ufology) One of a class of triangle-shaped unidentified flying objects, usually with a light in each corner.


Haunebu

This technology led to the amazing German flying saucers of the Haunebu and Vril classes built under SS auspices.

2003, Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism, and the Politics of Identity, NYU Press, page 295:

[…] and what crashed at Roswell was most likely a Haunebu.

2007, James Sheridan, The Pandora Prescription, Sterling & Ross Publishers, page 17:

However, some weeks after Ger-many surrendered, both Haunebu and Vril craft were spotted in the skies over occupied Germany.

2010, George Romero, The Rescue, Lotus Vision Publishing Company, page 165

(ufology, plural "Haunebus") Any of a class of flying saucers supposedly built by the Nazis.


Vril

Coined by British statesman and author Edward Bulwer-Lytton in the 1871 science fiction novel The Coming Race, later titled Vril, apparently as a clipping of virile.

coined

Coordinate term: Haunebu

Operation Highjump has turned out to be a hot topic for UFO conspiracy theorists over recent years, who claim it was a secret US military campaign to defeat and destroy supposed secret Nazi facilities in Antarctica and seize the German Vril flying discs, and the Thule mercury propelled spacecraft.

2012, Jack Follett, Special Report 2011: Hitler's Secret UFO Weapons, BoD – Books on Demand, page 38:

(ufology, attributive) A kind of flying saucer supposedly built by the Nazis.


Euryale

Ancient Greek Εὐρυάλη (Euruálē, literally “far-roaming”).

uder

(Greek mythology) The second eldest of the gorgons.


Coatlicue

(mythology) In Aztec mythology, the goddess who gave birth to the moon and stars.


limoniad

Latin limoniades, plural, Ancient Greek λειμωνιάδες (leimōniádes), from λειμών (leimṓn, “meadow”).


pelicanist

From pelican + -ist. Coined by Jerome Clark in reference to claims that Kenneth Arnold’s 1947 UFO sighting was pelicans.

Kottmeyer and others who use the psychosocial hypothesis constantly produce evidence to support their ideas, whereas the ETH proponents can produce only cranky ideas about magnetic, anti-gravity or interdimensional saucers, accompanied by a constant whining about "sceptics" and "debunkers" (not to mention "armchair ufologists" and "pelicanists").

2000 November 22, “Blue Resonant Human” (username), “::: Should Saucers Spin? :::”, in alt.alien.research, Usenet

Meanwhile, those of us who’ve experienced UFOs in various ways are called mentally ill, intellectually challenged, spiritually needy, liars, drunks, drug users, attention getters, drama queens, and more. Those all are worse than being called a thug, skeptibunkie, or Pelicanist. (Pelicanist is a term coined by UFO researcher Jerome Clark.)

2006 September 12, “LordOfThyNight” (username), “The Usual Purple Tinged Hyperbole About UFOs”, in The Paranormal & Ghost Society, Usenet

As opposed to... Skepticism of the pelicanist flavor perhaps ?

2009 November 29, “Tom Booth” (username), “For Serena,”, in alt.fan.landmark, Usenet

(chiefly ufology, derogatory) Someone who attempts to explain away UFO reports by means of any explanation, however illogical.


Tall White

All of the Tall White scout craft were very high performance vehicles.

2007, Charles James Hall, Millennial Hospitality IV: After Hours, AuthorHouse, page 322:

No one is sure when the Tall Whites arrived on earth, some saying in the Pre-Columbian period […]

2007, Gregory L. Reece, UFO religion: inside flying saucer cults and culture, I. B. Tauris, page 76:

However, in the years that followed, such descriptions became so common that this type of alien became known as the Tall White.

2011, Stuart A. Kallen, Aliens, ReferencePoint Press, page 26:

(ufology) A member of a certain race of extraterrestrials


Cabeiri

(Greek mythology) A group of enigmatic chthonic deities worshipped by a mystery cult closely associated with that of Hephaestus.


Ææa

Hence she is not merely the personification of the rosy morn, but also of twilight, for which reason her palace is placed in the west, on the island Ææa.

19th century, Unknown, Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome, page 67:

(Greek mythology) Archaic form of Aeaea.


Andromache

From Latin Andromachē, from Ancient Greek Ἀνδρομάχη (Andromákhē).


nahual

Borrowed from Spanish nahual, from Classical Nahuatl nāhualli (“sorcerer, spirit, animal form a person may take”).

der

She has a nahual for every day of the week.

They suspected that the man was a nahual.

(Mesoamerican mythology) A person who is able to take an animal form.


Anemoi

(Greek mythology) The four Greek gods of the winds (Boreas, Notus, Eurus, and Zephyrus, who were each ascribed a cardinal direction from which their respective winds came), considered collectively.


Astra Planeta

(Greek mythology) The five Greek gods of the "Wandering Stars", (i.e. "planets"), (Phaenon (Saturn), Phaethon (Jupiter), Pyroeis (Mars), Eosphorus/Hesperus (Venus), and Stilbon (Mercury). They were the sons of the Eos (goddess of the dawn) and Astraeus (god of the dusk), and their siblings were the four Anemoi ("winds").


Atreid

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Ἀτρείδης (Atreídēs).

bor+

Ancient tradition said that Mycenae was founded by the Perseid dynasty and that the Atreids (Pelops, Atreus, Agamemnon) were outsiders.

1998, Michael Wood, In Search of the Trojan War, page 157:

While in the Oresteia sacrifice operated as a metaphor for the intrafamilial murders of the Atreids, among the Taurians the metaphor takes on materiality.

1999, Barbara Goff, “The Violence of Community: Ritual in the Iphigenia in Tauris”, in Mark William Padilla, editor, Rites of Passage in Ancient Greece: Literature, Religion, Society, page 112:

The family history of the Atreids is so complicated you'd need a flow chart to get it; what's more, that chart would flow with the blood of doomed family members. Situated in Mycenae, the Atreids were a brutal and competitive bunch; they worked hard to outdo each other with generation after generation of heinous crimes.

2010, Chiron the Centaur, The Mythic Warrior's Handbook, page 28:

(Greek mythology) Any of the family and descendants of the mythical Mycenaean king Atreus, including either of his sons Menelaus and Agamemnon, who both feature in the Iliad.


heracleid

(Greek mythology) Any member of the Heracleidae, the descendants of Hercules.


Heraclid

(Greek mythology) One of the Heracleidae, or descendants of Heracles.


neleid

(Greek mythology) Any member of the Neleidae, the descendants of Neleus.


tyndarid

From Ancient Greek Τυνδαρίδας (Tundarídas).

(Greek mythology) One of the twins Castor and Pollux, sons of Tyndareus


Menae

(Greek mythology) The 50 goddesses of the lunar months within a four-year Olympiad. They were the daughters of the Moon goddess, Selene, and her lover, Endymion, a mortal king. Their individual names are not attested in any sources. Singular: Mene.


Phlegethon

/ˈflɛd͡ʒɪθɒn/

/ˈflɛd͡ʒɪθɑn/

From Latin Phlegethōn, from Ancient Greek Φλεγέθων (Phlegéthōn).

Firebrand of hell first tynd in Phlegeton, / By thousand furies, and from thence out throwen / Into this world, to worke confusion, / And set it all on fire by force vnknowen / Is wicked discord [...].

1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

Consumed by the tongues ov fire / burning like Phlegethon / holy gardens reduced to ash

(Greek mythology) A river of fire in Hades.


Lernean

(Greek mythology, archaeology) From or pertaining to Lerna, a former coastal lake and Helladic site on the Peloponnese.


bluecap

(mythology, mining) A tiny blue-skinned fairy that inhabits a mine and helps the miners.


Daphnean

(mythology) Of or relating to the naiad Daphne in Greek mythology.


merrow

Hiberno-English, from Irish murúch (“mermaid”).

(Celtic mythology, mythology) A merman or mermaid in Scottish and Irish Gaelic folklore.


Salamis

(Greek mythology) A nymph, the daughter of Asopus and Metope, who was carried away by Poseidon to the island that bears her name.


Aether

From Ancient Greek αἰθήρ (aithḗr, “upper air”). Doublet of Ether.

der

(Greek mythology) One of the Greek primordial deities who was the personification of light, brother-husband of Hemera and grandson of Chaos.


Achelous

From Latin Achelōus, from Attic Greek Ἀχελῷος (Akhelôios), Epic Greek Ἀχελώϊος (Akhelṓïos), which is probably from Akkadian aḫu/aḫû + illu/elu/ilu; see also Etruscan [script needed] (Axlei) and [script needed] (Αυκηλως), which are probably from Akkadian aklu (“chieftain”) and Sumerian akil.

(Greek mythology) Deity of water; later, patron deity of the Achelous River.


heavenly stem

One of the ten terms used in East Asian cultures to represent

(mythology) One of the ten suns thought to appear in succession on its appointed day of the traditional week.


Hemera

(Greek mythology) The personification and elemental goddess of the day. Her husband is Aether.


Pax

(Greek mythology) The goddess/personification of peace and one of the Horae. She is a daughter of Zeus and Themis, and her sisters are Justitia and Eunomia. She is the Roman counterpart of Eirene.


Macaria

From Ancient Greek Μακαρία (Makaría, literally “she who is blessed”).

bor

(Greek mythology) The goddess of the blessed dead, who go to the Elysian Fields.

(Greek mythology) A daughter of Heracles/Hercules.


Melinoe

(Greek mythology) An obscure figure, a daughter of Persephone and Zeus. or a daughter of Hades and Persephone.


Procris

Borrowed from Ancient Greek Πρόκρις (Prókris).

(Greek mythology) In Ancient Greek mythology, the daughter of Erechtheus, king of Athens, and his wife Praxithea.


Mania

From Latin Mania, related to manes (“spirits of the dead”).

(Roman mythology) The goddess of the dead and ghosts.